Brian thanks for those. The one shown has been inverted - mirror imaged. Jim Gordon is a righty (not lefty)

(I don't like when photos do that)

Sometimes photography and video authors can play tricks. On the other hand, from this same show he was shown on video playing not only a left-handed kit but matched traditional grip, which is pretty cool. I think it's the Mad Dogs and Englishmen 1971 one.

I love this thread. Jim is my hero, the way he plays those drums. Brian, you contributed some stellar stuff, thanks. The "Why Does Love Have To Be So Bad" clip is such high level playing on Jim's (and everyone else's) part. If I were to have to emulate a style of playing, I'd pick Jim's. Eric Clapton himself has stated point blank that Jim is his all time favorite drummer to back him up.

__________________
The best way to do art, is to dispense with good and bad...and just get on with it.

I love this thread. Jim is my hero, the way he plays those drums. Brian, you contributed some stellar stuff, thanks. The "Why Does Love Have To Be So Bad" clip is such high level playing on Jim's (and everyone else's) part. If I were to have to emulate a style of playing, I'd pick Jim's. Eric Clapton himself has stated point blank that Jim is his all time favorite drummer to back him up.

More interesting stuff. I just can't get footage of Jim, I love watching him play. He was a big guy, with spot on musical sensibilities, who both simultaneously commanded and finessed the drumset. But I love looking into his eyes to try and make sense of what is going on in there.
I just can't get enough footage of him. His feel...I so envy his feel.

__________________
The best way to do art, is to dispense with good and bad...and just get on with it.

Apologies if already posted, I didn't see it. I'm with (the other) Larry on this: Jim has the feel I think I most envy/covet. Just amazing authority, conviction and groove. And distinctive, expressive drum parts, too. It's so, so, so hard to do that.

This is really nice, to hear his drumming, more clearly coming out of all the layers laid down on top of that track. All Things Must Pass is a great record but quite a few songs are way overtreated to Phil Spectors' 'wall of sound'.

This is really nice, to hear his drumming, more clearly coming out of all the layers laid down on top of that track. All Things Must Pass is a great record but quite a few songs are way overtreated to Phil Spectors' 'wall of sound'.

The bass drum has a weird thud. I wonder what the recording technique and EQ for that particular drum was?

Here's some more Jim on an old favorite of mine, Rikki Don't Lose That Number

Sometimes photography and video authors can play tricks. On the other hand, from this same show he was shown on video playing not only a left-handed kit but matched traditional grip, which is pretty cool. I think it's the Mad Dogs and Englishmen 1971 one.

It is also a way of getting around copywrite law on pictures... or in the case of YouTube of slightly speeding up or slowing down a track to avoid copy write infringement.

Jim Gordon's styles and that lazy west coast thing he had going on, he played with authority too. There was no wasted movements in Jim Gordon's playing, every note meant something..very much like future geniuses like Vinny Colaiuta.

I sat 5 feet away from Jim Gordon, in the drum booth at Trident Studios in London, as he recorded Carly Simonís Youíre So Vain in 1972. I was Carlyís road drummer and played on a few tracks on her No Secrets album, however I wasnít cutting it when we recorded Youíre So Vain. So Richard Perry, the producer of that album brought in the heavyweights. Jim Gordon, Klaus Voorman, and Nicky Hopkins to record Youíre So Vain. Carlyís road band, which included me, was sidelined for half the tracks on that album, except for Jimmy Ryan who played on everything and played that great guitar solo on ďYouíre So VainĒ. Anyhow, I was totally cool with Richard Perryís decision to bring Jim Gordon in. I was in London for the duration of that album, as road bands often were back then, on call at any time. I saw this as an opportunity to watch Jim up close. I had been listening to Jim Gordon and Jim Keltner ever since Mad Dogs and Englishmen. I asked Jim if he would mind if I sat in the drum booth and watched him play. He was totally cool with that. So I watched Jim do 40 takes (Richard Perry was famous for doing a lot of takes) of Youíre So Vain. You see, back then the live performance in the studio had to contain all the magic in the basic backing track. There was no fixing it or replacing parts after the track was recorded. You could repair little things but the vibe and groove had to be all there in the performance. Perry pushed players right to their limit. I liked his style. He had a vision and wasnít going to stop till he got it out of the musicians. He made great bloody records that all stand up today under scrutiny. He always used the best players on his records. As a player, working for Richard Perry was a step up the ladder in session world. It meant something. Anyhow, I watched Jim like a hawk for 4 or 5 hours, playing that song over and over again. Itís one thing to hear a player on a recording but to see a player playing live is a whole different ball game. Body language reveals so much about where a drummer is coming from. Seeing Jim play up that close, and fine tuning his drum part, was like getting intra veinous Jim GordonÖhis DNA being injected into mine. And I got it, big time. I saw what he had and what I didnít have. But not for long. I really understood where his notes were coming from and went away from that session knowing what I had to do to improve my act. Jim never played a rim shot on 40 takes of Youíre So Vain. He hit the middle of the snare drum so hard that the head was completely caved in, in the middle. It was a 6 inch crater in a perfect circle. He hit the exact same spot every time he hit the snare drum. That means all his backbeats sounded as identical as humanly possible. Engineers love consistency from players. I was suffering from total rim shot dependency, playing tight, funky and snappy, New York style, like Bernard Purdie. I am a New Yorker. Jim had that West Coast lazy thing going on. His notes seem to have length. They breathed. Legato drumming I call it. There was all this air around each of his notes. And his groove was so relaxed and secure and comfortable. It was like sitting in a giant arm chair that fit perfect. He made all the other players sound amazing right from Take One. And he made the recording sound like a real hit record right from Take One. I was blown away. The tom tom fills were like thunder. I still copy him doing that today and think about him in that room every time I do it. I put my left hand on the high tom and my right hand on the floor tom and play straight 8th notes (both hands in unison) that crescendo into a chorus. Just like Youíre So Vain. His drumming was intelligent and impeccable on that record. There was no click track either and Richard Perry was very demanding when it came to tempo. (By the way, click tracks have ruined pop music today). Donít get me started. Thatís something else I had to improve on. Playing time. Iím still working on that. Jim nailed that track at least 40 times and every take on the drums was brilliant and useable as a final drum track. However Richard Perry wanted to hand pick where Jim played certain fills and all the other cats too. So thatís where a studio musicianís discipline comes into play. You have to play the same track for hours and maintain the feeling and learn every note in your part till itís written in your DNA. Then on top of that, you have to take instructions after each take from the Producer telling you exactly what to amend or delete in your part. Itís a lot of mental work going on. Not all players are cut out for this kind of disciplined playing, and designing a part. Thatís what great records are. Great parts. Jim was like a computer. He did everything Richard Perry asked of him and still kept all the other stuff going in his part, take after take after take. And he hit the drums so damn hard. His snare drum was monstrous and it wasnít even a rim shot. I was stunned at the power in all his notes. He saw that whole drum part in his head as if it was written on paper and handed to him. And take after take, for maybe 4 or 5 hours with breaks, he played it spot on every time. I got itÖbig time. Thank God I was replaced by Jim that day. What I got from that experience took my playing to another level completely. I put funky drumming on the back burner after watching Jim and started trying to make my notes real long, relaxed, with lots of air around them, giving each note itís full sustain value, and even tuning my drums so that the notes would sustain for their full value. And every note was thought out. Thatís what Jim did. He didnít play any throw away notes. Not one!! Not even an unintended grace note on the snare drum. Thatís what making records is all about. You have to own and believe in every note you play. Every 8th note on your high hat has meaning and character and tells a story. You canít just be playing mindless time with a back beat. Drummers who do that sound bored and uninvolved. A drummer has to be involved in every note and put life into each one. This is what Jim did. I know this for sure. Itís a subtle thing but it makes all the difference in a player. Discipline, restraint, and conviction in every note. Thatís when real music starts to happen. Canít we all start a movement to get him out. Sounds like someone should talk to him. Like me. On the other hand, maybe he wants to be exactly where he is. I respect that too. Returning to ďreal lifeĒ after this many years might be too overwhelming. I can relate to that. By the way, my birthday is 14 July, the same day as Jim Gordonís birthday. Can people visit Jim? Or writer e-mail him? Feed back is welcome which is why I am posting my e-mail address under my name.

Brian, thanks for that. What an inspiring read from Andy Newmark. Wow. I know what it feels like to be in awe of someone else the way Andy was of Jim. And that's Andy Newmark talking! Already a great at that point. Wow again.

Wow what a piece from Andy Newmark. Very inspiring.
It would be awesome if we could all drop Jim Gordon an email.I doubt the system allows that, but maybe an open letter. If not just to acknowledge his presence in prison, and his work we admire. It's a real shame he is still in there.

He was on so many diverse stuff. "Classical Gas", I always loved that thing he did when they gave him like 2 beats or whatever to take the lead.

It occurs to me that Eric Clapton would be the best possible advocate for Jim. He is so high profile and when he talks, it's news. Jim loves Eric to this day, or so I've read. Eric owes this to him. Who better than to kinda champion a movement. Jim needs some serious love from someone.

Another thing that occurs to me...the money. Jim Gordon is LOADED, or so I've read. I find it odd that no one like children, relatives, prison officials, mothers of his possible children, and people of that nature aren't posturing themselves to grab his money from him. It's like nobody gives a damn about him. It really upsets me. I betcha Eric Clapton and music could restore this guy to at least a more normal life. It just breaks my heart.

__________________
The best way to do art, is to dispense with good and bad...and just get on with it.

From Wikipedia: On 10 July 1984 Gordon was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison. As of March 2013, James Beck Gordon, prisoner #C89262, age 67, admission date 13 July 1984, is still serving his sentence at the California Medical Facility, a specialist medical and psychiatric prison in Vacaville, California.
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hmmm... Am thinking to write this prison/facility, and inquire if one can send letters to prisoners. I wouldn't care if they censored or read it, just to 'drop him a line' t say that the music he made was so great and influential to a bunch of people.
Maybe this has been done. Somebody must have been in contact with him all these years.

hmmm... Am thinking to write this prison/facility, and inquire if one can send letters to prisoners. I wouldn't care if they censored or read it, just to 'drop him a line' t say that the music he made was so great and influential to a bunch of people.
Maybe this has been done. Somebody must have been in contact with him all these years.

Please keep us updated if you go ahead with this. I have read that there was some odd clause that keeps him from being able to be paroled. I have no clue how or why that would happen and/or if he is a forensic patient and that may be a different story.

This is probably Jim Gordon's most well-known style and sound, very radio-friendly rock. He sounds great, jmo. Flawless, as though nothing else was going on. As with the other 70's gigs, he doesn't look too healthy, though. I had read that Jackson Browne had a heart, and gave him a gig when he had been down and out for a while and a broken reputation.

According to this, any of us can send a letter to Jim. It will be opened and read by staff.
His name and number can be found on the 2nd url. I saw no mention of email (which would be way easier) but, being male, didn't read all rules

According to this, any of us can send a letter to Jim. It will be opened and read by staff.
His name and number can be found on the 2nd url. I saw no mention of email (which would be way easier) but, being male, didn't read all rules

This album featured the hit "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" a bluesy bossa nova that borrowed from Horace Silver's "Song For My Father." The writing on this album is more expansive, with nods to country music ("With A Gun") and jazz (a surprising, note-for-note rendition of Ellington's "East St. Louis Toodle-oo"). With Pretzel Logic, the studio became an instrument, the sound was richer; and they used full orchestration with horns and strings.

The drummer for the bulk of the album was studio musician Jim Gordon. Tall and good-looking with curly blond hair, Gordon was technically gifted and possessed a golden sense of feel and rhythm. During the '60s and early '70s, his trademark right-hand-driven 16th-note groove was in constant demand among artists like John Lennon, George Harrison, Traffic, Joe Cocker, Carly Simon, Delaney & Bonnie, and Eric Clapton. He was the drummer on Derek & the Dominos' Layla & Other Love Songs and the early Clapton solo albums. He wrote the beautiful second half of "Layla," all lush piano chords and trembling guitars. Unfortunately, Gordon's remarkable talent was mired by mental disease that tracked him from the age of seven and eventually ended his career. He heavily influenced two other drummers, though: Jeff Porcaro and Jim Keltner.

According to Keltner, "When he was on, he exuded confidence of the highest level-incredible time, great feel, and a good sound. He had everything." "On Pretzel, " says Porcaro, I played on 'Night by Night' and Gordon and I played double drums on 'Parker's Band.' Gordon was my idol. Playing with him was like going to school. Keltner was the bandito in town. Gordon was the heir to Hale Blaine. His playing was the textbook for me. No one ever had finer-sounding cymbals or drums, or played his kit so beautifully and balanced. And nobody had that particular groove. Plus his physical appearance - the dream size for a drummer - he lurched over his set of Camcos."

Jim Gordon's drum parts in this one are just fantastic, so I uploaded a decent quality sounding mp3. He was obviously playing well in 1973. lol

Didn't know Johnny Rivers was so rockin'!
I discovered my wife has CD's of the Derek&Dominoes1970 Fillmore show - not sure how she got them. Wow, what a show. I'd even say Jim's playing way outshines EC on them.
They are now in my truck playing non-stop.

I love finding obscure music from decades past...it seems like the Wrecking Crew's best performances were usually the obscure things. I think Hal Blaine mentioned that most of his best work is pretty much unknown.

Didn't know Johnny Rivers was so rockin'!
I discovered my wife has CD's of the Derek&Dominoes1970 Fillmore show - not sure how she got them. Wow, what a show. I'd even say Jim's playing way outshines EC on them.
They are now in my truck playing non-stop.

In recalling his time with Derek and the Dominos in his book, "Clapton: The Autobiography," Eric Clapton stated that "To this day I would say that the bass player Carl Radle and the drummer Jimmy Gordon are the most powerful rhythm section I have ever played with. They were absolutely brilliant. When people say that Jim Gordon is the greatest rock 'n' roll drummer who ever lived, I think it's true, beyond anybody."

If there was a drummer I model myself after, it would be Jim Gordon. I just can't get enough of his playing. I love how Clapton talks about Jim...only in the most loving and respectful manner. To me that is the most coveted mark of a great drummer, when an acknowledged great guitarist/musician/writer/singer publicly sings heartfelt praises.

Thanks for that Mr. GBaslDrums. Fellow Pennsylvanian! Where are you?

__________________
The best way to do art, is to dispense with good and bad...and just get on with it.

If there was a drummer I model myself after, it would be Jim Gordon. I just can't get enough of his playing. I love how Clapton talks about Jim...only in the most loving and respectful manner. To me that is the most coveted mark of a great drummer, when an acknowledged great guitarist/musician/writer/singer publicly sings heartfelt praises.

Thanks for that Mr. GBaslDrums. Fellow Pennsylvanian! Where are you?

I'm in the same boat as you, Larry. Jim's playing sets the standard when it comes to rock/blues drumming and I think more guitarists would notice it long before most drummers. That tells you something right there.

I'm in the Greater DuBois Area, about 2 hours northeast of Pittsburgh. You?